Articles from Vol. 131, No. 2693, February

Pregnant women frequently suffer months of discomfort as they shift about in an attempt to find a comfortable sleeping position. Add in other disturbances such as nausea, heartburn, leg cramps, frequent visits to the bathroom, or even snoring, and...

The marriage of dentistry and aerospace engineering may soon yield new "virtual mouth" technology to help orthodontists and dentists accurately calibrate movement of teeth and precisely design and speed manufacturing of restorations and replacement...

With the growing popularity of gastric bypass surgery to treat morbid obesity, body contouring after massive weight loss has become a focus of the plastic surgery community. An updated and innovative method that adjusts treatment according to body...

David Terman, professor of mathematics, Ohio State University, Columbus, and his colleagues may have found the origin of tremors suffered by people with Parkinson's disease. This could potentially aid the development of new treatments for Parkinson's...

According to the Centre de Recherches et d'Investigations Epidermiques et Sensorielles (ERIES), Paris, a protein called hepatocyte growth factor helps maintain cell life and skin barrier function without increasing the risk of cancer following damage...

Do you find yourself itching and sneezing excessively during allergy season? Does your family have a history of hay fever and asthma? Does your skin seem to get red and irritated even if someone just touches your arm for a minute? Does the thought...

A new study suggests that young adults who consume more dairy products may be less likely to become obese and develop insulin resistance syndrome (IRS), a key risk factor for type 2 diabetes and heart disease. According to the National Dairy Council,...

Depression evokes powerful images of sadness and despair that are often expressed by tears. However, common lore that depressed people cry more than those who are not depressed may be wrong, a Stanford (Calif.) University study indicates. The findings,...

Drugs currently used to treat Type 2 diabetes also may prove useful for treatment of multiple sclerosis, according to studies at the University of Illinois at Chicago and the West Side Veterans Administration Hospital, Chicago. Douglas Feinstein, a...

Although yon Willebrand disease (VWD) is the most-commonly inherited bleeding disorder, affecting approximately 3,000,000 Americans, few people--including physicians--are familiar with the condition. This lack of awareness may contribute to the low...

A study from the University of Illinois at Chicago College of Pharmacy may lead to the development of a drug to stop the growth of cancer cells. Lucio Miele, associate professor of biopharmaceutical sciences, and his team have developed a gene therapy...

Heart disease takes a greater toll on quality of life in women than it does in men, suggests research from Ohio State University, Columbus. A study of 536 patients with a variety of heart problems showed that women reported poorer physical and psychological...

Hospital emergency rooms treated more than 67,000 injuries related to sledding and snow tubing in 2001, the majority occurring among youths under age 15. According to the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons, most could have been prevented if a...

When 41,000,000 people lack health insurance, it is not just the uninsured and their families who suffer, cautions a group of organizations sponsoring Cover the Uninsured Week (March 10-16). The impact is felt on the nation's economy and health care...

Researchers at The University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas have identified the underlying mechanism by which cocaine triggers hypertensive crisis, the most-severe form of high blood pressure and one of the most-common cocaine-related,...

Almost one in 13 soft contact lens wearers in a recent study had abrasions on the cornea severe enough to lead to infections or other problems. Mild abrasions--called corneal staining--happen to nearly everyone from time to time, whether or not they...

Cancer is a leading cause of death among older people on Medicare, particularly within racial and ethnic minority communities. In addition, racial and ethnic disparities still exist in cancer prevention and treatment, according to a report released...

The race to find a cure for Alzheimer's disease has intensified in recent years. With the aging of the populations in most of the industrialized world, it threatens to overwhelm health care systems over the next few decades and exact a human cost that...

More than 80,000 people are anxiously waiting for a life-saving organ transplant in the U.S., but many of their needs will never be met. Seventeen individuals die every day waiting for a transplant, according to the United Network for Organ Sharing....

Researchers at The University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas report that contact lenses, both rigid and soft, made from new hyper-oxygen transmissible materials are expected to reduce the possibility of bacterial infection better than...

Unless you are a war hero who wears scars with pride and patriotism, most people with those indelible marks would rather they just fade away. However, nearly half of those who have scars think there is no option but to live with them, according to...

Facelift recipients have yet another reason to smile while looking younger, thanks to a study finding that a person's second facelift is as safe as the original procedure. The 101 study participants, ranging from 40 to 81 years old, with an average...

Opening doors to the possibility of developing new vaccines and antiviral agents to fight a host of insect-borne diseases, scientists have, for the first time, determined the structure of a family of viruses known as flaviviruses. Researchers from...

Companies that create HIV-AIDS drugs now have key information that could assist in making new medications with fewer side effects. Researchers Henry Weiner, a professor of biochemistry at Purdue University, West Lafayette, Ind., Steven Zollo of the...

News that a malignant tumor has spread to other parts of the body seems like a death knell to the ears of many cancer patients. However, researchers at Purdue University, West Lafayette, Ind., are developing treatment methods that ultimately may cure...

An American Medical Association (AMA) report on the effects of alcohol on the brain dispels the myth that youth are more resilient than adults to adverse effects of drinking. Harmful Consequences of Alcohol Use on the Brains of Children, Adolescents,...

According to the Vagisil Women's Health Center, females of all ages need to be proactive about their health care, following game plans during various phases of life. During the teen years * Know your body so that you can recognize when something...

River blindness, a devastating tropical disease that affects 18,000,000 people in Africa, the Arabian peninsula, and Latin America, is caused by parasitic worms that burrow into the skin and release millions of tiny offspring that spread throughout...